Archive for February, 2009

Sony just can't seem to convince people that its gaming hardware developers are sitting around idle; everyone is desperate to believe a replacement to the PSP is in the works. Latest to stoke the rumorburn is David Perry, former COO of game developer Acclaim, who tweeted "I hear Sony FINALLY has the PSP 2. And thank goodness, they've removed the stupid battery-sucking UMD disc drive. I'm excited" earlier in the week.

With classic synthesizers fetching huge prices on eBay, never mind what you'd pay in a specialist music shop, those of us with a fondness for retro music design could do far worse than turn to Australian fabric artist pulsewidth and her incredible miniature replicas. Lovingly crafted out of felt, with hand-stitched buttons, knobs and patch-cables, each is a tiny reproduction of a classic analog synth.

How turned on you are by the Microsoft Red Xbox 360 Resident Evil Limited Edition does really depend on your attitude both to the color red and the game Resident Evil 5, but in case you've been wavering on the fence there's now an unboxing of the whole bundle. Major Nelson, who does actually work for Microsoft, is today's lucky unboxer.

Everyone's favorite bearded tech pundit, Walt Mossberg, has delivered his opinion of the Kindle 2 in the Wall Street Journal, and much to Amazon's relief it's a pretty much glowing review. Mossberg reminds us how "clumsy and annoying to use" he found the first-gen Kindle, before praising the Kindle 2 for its "vast improvement" in controls, design and the detail possible from its epaper display.

Mossberg also highlights Amazon's plans for ebook content on non-Kindle mobile devices, suggesting that such a move would easily eclipse the Kindle 2. The ebook market "could explode" he says, if Amazon offered iPhone or BlackBerry apps.

Samsung has publicly declared its goal of doubling AMOLED production in 2009, with a further doubling in 2010. According to Daniel Lamberti, brand manager at Samsung Mobile, AMOLED will reach economy of scale sometime this year, with TVs, laptops and monitors all commercially viable.

Florida state wildlife officials are taping magnets onto crocodiles, in an attempt to keep them out of residential areas. The project aims to disrupt the crocodiles' natural homing instinct; usually, captured crocs will return to where they were caught, despite being relocated many miles away.

Nokia is considering a move into the laptop business, according to Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, with the exec citing convergence between cellphones and notebooks as a key motivator. Speaking to a Finnish broadcaster this week, Kallasvuo highlighted the growing number of people whose first internet experience is on a cellphone, saying that Nokia was "looking very actively" at the segment.

Abee Japan have announced a new desktop PC case which, thanks to some neat little aluminum legs, gives you a space to push your keyboard out of the way. The Abee Japan smart SC120D has room for either a Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX motherboard, along with two 3.5-inch bays and a 2.5-inch bay.

Nintendo Japan have unveiled a new controller for the Wii, an update of the classic controller design that they're calling the Classic Controller PRO. The new design adds hand-grips and increases the space between the joysticks; it also throws a few more shoulder buttons into the mix.

Intel turned personal in their battle against NVIDIA's Ion earlier this week, with the release of a "Competitive Position Guide" that systematically attempted to undermine the HD-capable netbook graphics chipset. Now NVIDIA have struck back with their own document, somewhat obviously titled "NVIDIA response to Intel claims on Ion", in which they address each of Intel's criticisms.